CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN: SNUFFLES
Saturday, 6th March 1999
Buffy was completely in awe of Hogsmeade, and her two friends couldn't help but smile at Buffy's wide-eyed look as she took in the sights. Blaise couldn't stop giggling at the awed look on Buffy's face, and Draco couldn't help but want to kiss the blonde girl for looking so damn cute in her naiveté about all things magical.
"Where to next?" Blaise asked.
Draco was eyeing the Quidditch supply store, and the two girls could see that he was dying to go in. They nodded towards the store and grinned as Draco practically ran towards it, stopping to look at the display broom in the mirror. It was the newest model of broom the Thunderbolt, a step up from the Firebolt.
"I'd die for a broom like that," Draco said, practically salivating at the idea of owning a broom like the one in the window.
They entered the store, and the trio looked around curiously, Buffy surprised by how many different models of broomsticks they had on offer. She'd never really given much thought to it before. Draco walked up behind her as she looked at the display of different teams uniforms and slid his arms around her waist, pulling her so that her back was against his chest.
"Some of the teams colours are kinda interesting," Buffy said with a grin, pointing at a bright pink robe.
Draco smiled and pointed to a jade green uniform that was even brighter than the pinks. "At least they wouldn't be able to get lost in bad weather," Draco said thoughtfully. "It makes you glad of your own house colours I suppose."
"The silver really brings out your eyes," Buffy teased.
Draco rolled his silver eyes, and pulled Buffy away from the uniforms towards the door.
"We should go before I get too tempted to buy something," he said.
Buffy and Blaise grinned at each other and walked out of the store, Draco's eye once again catching the Thunderbolt broom displayed in the window. Buffy had to physically drag Draco away from it to keep him from going back into the store. As soon as they reached the centre of the street, they came face to face with the Gryffindor trio. Buffy grinned, whilst Draco and Blaise remainde strangely neutral.
Ron, Harry and Hermione looked slightly startled by the lack of sneers on Blaise and Draco's faces. They smiled at Buffy and Harry pointed to the Quidditch store.
"See anything interesting?" Harry asked.
"Yeah. Draco was kinda interested in the new broom. Thunderdome or something," Buffy said.
"Thunderbolt," Ron, Harry and Draco all corrected her.
The three boys all looked at each other in shock and dismay, realising that they had all agreed with each other on something, even if it was Quidditch related.
"Well, even if he bought the broom he still wouldn't be as good as Harry," Ron said pointedly.
Buffy's smile dropped and she glared at her semi-friend. "I guess we'll just have to wait until the game to find that one out," Buffy said confidently.
Draco fought not to shift nervously. Whilst it was nice to have Buffy's confidence, in the four years he'd been playing Quidditch, not once had he ever won against Harry Potter. No one had, except Cedric Diggory, and that had been through some foul-play with Dementors.
"Anyway, we'll see you guys back at Hogwarts," Buffy said, not wanting to stay and talk any longer, knowing that the Gryffindors that she was friends with would probably never accept any other Slytherin students. Ron still had trouble grasping the fact that even though Buffy was a Slytherin student, she was actually fairly nice. He couldn't believe that about any of the Slytherins.
Buffy grabbed Draco's hand and walked away from Harry, Ron and Hermione. Blaise and Draco were extremely relieved, and the Slytherin trio entered Honeydukes. Buffy's face lit up as she saw the sheer amount of sweets that was surrounding them. She'd had several wizarding sweets before when the other Seventh Year girls had shared with her, but she'd never really bought any for herself.
With the money that Giles had sent to her in the package she'd received the first week at Hogwarts, Buffy bought a fair supply of sweets that she would probably go through fairly quickly, particularly if she was sharing them with the others. She was particularly fascinated by the chocolate frogs, intrigued by the fact that they actually moved.
Twenty minutes, and many sickles later, they walked out of the sweet store in into the pub, where they found many of their fellow students seated around tables. Draco ordered butterbeers for them all, and Buffy found herself drinking the most delicious beverage she'd ever tasted.
Buffy looked out the window, and from the corner of her eye, she spotted movement in a large shrubbery. She looked closer and saw two large brown eyes looking back at her. She stifled a gasp and couldn't help but wonder who or what was watching the pub. She stood up and put a hand on Draco's shoulder.
"I'm just going outside for a sec," she told him.
He nodded in confusion. "You want me to come with you?"
She shook her head and kissed his cheek. "It's okay. I'll be back."
She walked outside, checking over her shoulder to make sure Draco and Blaise stayed seated. Her two friends were too curious for their own good sometimes. She casually walked towards the shrubbery, conscious of the movement of the leaves. Whatever was in there was watching her approach and was moving backwards to avoid being seen. Had she not been the Slayer, she wouldn't have noticed the movements of the leaves, but she was trained for this type of thing.
She looked around and saw no one watching her, and quickly ducked into the hedge, coming out into a clearing on the other side. She stayed completely still for a moment and heard someone or something breathing quietly about four feet away from her. She looked around casually, skimming over its hiding spot. It was an incredibly large black dog, but Buffy could feel something different coming from it as well.
In the last month, she'd been honing her senses as Giles had taught her. She'd been feeling vulnerable without her strength, and had worked on strengthening her other skills, particularly her spider-sense. She could feel magic radiating from this dog, and she knew she'd felt something similar in another animal before.
She racked her brain, trying to remember where and when. The answer hit her quickly. Two weeks ago, during a Transfiguration lesson. Professor McGonagal had shown Buffy her Animagus form after class one day, and Buffy had been intrigued by the notion of being able to transform into and out of animal form. Whoever this dog was, it was definitely an animagus.
"Show yourself," Buffy demanded quietly.
The dog stiffened and tried to quiet it's breathing. Buffy looked directly at the dog and spoke again.
"I know you're a human. C'mon, show yourself."
The dog stepped forward and looked up at Buffy, as though he was trying to gauge what sort a threat she could be to it. She held up her hands in a sign of peace, showing she neither had her wand in her hand, nor a weapon. The dog tilted it's head to the side thoughtfully before finally transforming in front of her.
She regarded the man curiously, trying to work out if he was evil or not. He didn't look particularly threatening, and his eyes told of a deep sadness that Buffy didn't know how to explain.
"Hi," she finally said.
"I've never met a witch or wizard as young as you who could feel that I was more than an animal," he said, without even bothering to greet her.
She grinned at him and shrugged. "It's a gift."
"You're not British," he commented.
She shook her head. "Nope. Thank god. I'm an American, born and raised."
"You are a student though, aren't you?" he asked.
"Yep. Seventh year."
"What house?"
"Slytherin," she replied.
His eyes narrowed immediately and Buffy just rolled her eyes before glaring at him, her hands on her hips.
"What is it with you people? God, if I'd said Gryffindor, Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw, you wouldn't have thought anything of it," Buffy ranted angrily.
He looked at her and couldn't help but smile. She made quite the picture, small, blonde, her hands on her hips and a good foot shorter than he himself was.
"Who are you?" he asked curiously.
Her anger deflated and she held her hand out to him. "Buffy Summers," she replied. "And you?"
"Sirius Black," he answered, expecting her to recoil in shock and horror. Even though he'd been cleared of all charges, his name still made people incredibly nervous. Her only reaction was to look at him with curiousity.
"Sirius…you're Harry's godfather, aren't you?"
He nodded, obviously impressed by her extra knowledge. Most people who heard his name still accused him of being a murderer. Obviously this girl knew Harry or else, she probably would have done the same thing.
"You're a friend of his then?" Sirius asked.
"Yeah, sort of. I've only really known him for a couple of weeks. He's nice though," Buffy said.
"I've never met a Slytherin who actually liked Harry Potter," Sirius commented.
Buffy sighed and sat down on a large rock. Sirius sat opposite her, uncomfortable with looking down at the girl.
"Y'know everyone goes on and on about what houses people are in, but no one ever looks beyond that. You hear the word Slytherin and you judge them based on that. I never knew people could be such bigots."
Sirius couldn't believe what he was hearing. The tired and sad tone in her voice however, made him feel like a complete prat. He felt properly chastised and couldn't help but wonder whether or not this girl was right.
"I'm sorry," he said softly.
She shook her head and smiled at him. "It's okay. It's just kinda my pet peeve at the moment. I take it you were a student at Hogwarts too?"
He nodded. "Gryffindor class of '75."
"Hey cool. I know someone from Gryffindor '74," she said.
"Really? Who?"
"Rupert Giles," Buffy replied.
Sirius' eyes lit up with excitement. There was a name he hadn't heard in years.
"You know Ripper?" he asked. "What's the old bastard up to these days?"
Buffy couldn't help but laugh at Sirius' description of her Watcher. She couldn't help but wonder whether or not Giles had skipped some of the details about his Ripper days if someone from Hogwarts was calling him by that particular moniker.
"He's working in California," Buffy replied. "He's the librarian at my old high school."
Sirius look at her confused. "Librarian…but…he was training to be a Watcher."
"How do you know that?" Buffy asked.
"We were friends. We played Quidditch together for years."
"Giles played Quidditch?" she asked with a laugh.
Somehow she just couldn't imagine her Watcher playing Quidditch. She tried to imagine the tweed-clad librarian on a broomstick, and the image she conjured up only caused copious amounts of laughter.
"He was good. So…do you know if he ever became one?" Sirius asked.
"A Watcher, you mean? Yeah, he did," Buffy replied.
Sirius grinned. "Bloody brilliant. I always wanted to meet a Slayer. Did you ever meet her?"
Buffy smiled and nodded. "Yeah. We were close."
"Were?" Sirius asked sadly, obviously thinking that the use of the past-tense meant that the Slayer was dead.
"Oh, I just mean before I came to England," Buffy added.
Sirius smiled again and couldn't help but envy his old friend.
"He enjoys it, yes?"
Buffy nodded, fairly certain that Giles didn't mind too much being her Watcher. She knew that at times it was particularly trying, especially the entire problem with Angelus, but on the whole, Buffy was fairly certain that Giles was where he wanted to be. He hadn't left after he'd been fired, and to the best of Buffy's knowledge, he hadn't left when Buffy had been removed to England either. He was there by choice, with or without a Slayer, and she had to respect him for that. She missed him.
"Yeah, I think he does."
There was a sudden rustling in the bushes, and Sirius quickly transformed himself back into animagus form. Buffy turned and saw Harry, Ron and Hermione all enter the clearing, the three of them looking at her suspiciously. Sirius transformed back again and stood up to hug his godson.
Hermione took a seat beside Buffy and looked at her for an explanation.
"Me and Sirius here were just getting acquainted," she explained.
"Turns out Buffy knows one of my old school friends," Sirius said, grinning as he, Harry and Ron all took seats opposite the girls. "Ripper Giles. The bloke went off to Watcher school and forgot all about us."
"Watcher school?" Ron repeated.
Hermione's eyes widened. "Watchers? As in, a Slayer's guardian?"
Sirius nodded and Hermione looked at the Slytherin girl curiously.
"You know a Watcher?" Hermione asked.
Buffy nodded, hoping that Hermione wasn't about to ask if Buffy was a Slayer. She was really horrible at lying, and she hated doing it.
"So…Slayers really do exist then," the Gryffindor girl said.
Sirius nodded enthusiastically. "What I wouldn't give to meet her. So, if Ripper's in California, that must be where the Slayer is, right?"
Buffy nodded. One of them at least. "Somewhere in California as far as I know. Unless she got moved to another state without me knowing."
The Gryffindor trio looked at her with excitement. "You've met a Slayer?" Ron asked.
Buffy nodded. "Two of them," she replied. Three including me…
"Wicked!" Ron exclaimed. "Two Slayers…god you're lucky."
"Both of them were Ripper's?" Sirius asked curiously.
"Just one," Buffy replied. "The other one was only there to help out. We have a bit of a vampire problem in my town."
"So, that explains why that boggart turned into a vampire," Hermione mused.
Buffy had nearly forgotten about that particular experience. After she'd cleared everything up with Blaise and Draco, they hadn't really spoken about it again. She knew they still had questions that they wanted answered, but until she could openly admit to being the Slayer, she couldn't reveal too much of her past.
"Yeah, they pretty much creep me out," Buffy said.
"Wait, what boggart?" Ron asked.
"Oh, there was a boggart in the DADA classroom on Monday. It picked Buffy and turned into a vampire. And I have to say, you're an excellent sword-fighter," Hermione said.
Buffy smiled, wincing slightly. She had been hoping that Hermione wouldn't bring that topic up, especially not in front of Harry and Ron. The two boys looked at her with new eyes.
"Sword-fighting?" Harry asked.
Hermione nodded. "The boggart handed her a sword, and they fought. Where did you learn to fight like that?"
"Giles taught me," Buffy admitted. "He's a good teacher."
Hermione nodded. "Did you ever spar with the Slayer?"
"Yeah. A couple of times." Had some proper fights with her too.
"Is she as strong as everyone says?" Ron asked curiously.
Buffy nodded. It had been interesting reading up on the Slayer from the perspective of wizards. They regarded the Slayer as something of an icon, and were fascinated by the strength of the 'one girl in all the world chosen to hunt the vampires'.
"Yeah. She's not invincible or anything, but…she's pretty strong."
"Wicked," Ron said again.
Hermione looked at Buffy, and the Slayer tried not to squirm uncomfortably. Buffy knew that Hermione was not an unintelligent person. In fact, Buffy was fairly certain that Hermione was the smartest student in all of Hogwarts. If that was to be believed, then Buffy knew that the Gryffindor girl was probably fast piecing together what she knew of Buffy. It would only be a matter of time before she worked out who and what Buffy really was.
Buffy stood before Hermione could ask her anything specific.
"I should probably be getting back. Draco's probably worrying," Buffy said.
Ron rolled his eyes and Sirius looked at the girl curiously. "Draco? Draco Malfoy?"
Buffy nodded. "Yeah."
"You two are…"
"Dating?" Buffy supplied. "Yeah."
Sirius shook his head in bewilderment. The most down-to-earth Slytherin person that he'd ever met was dating the son of Lucius Malfoy. He couldn't quite believe it.
"It was nice meeting you Sirius," Buffy said politely as she made her way back to the break in the shrubbery. "I'll tell Giles you said hi when I talk to him next."
Sirius nodded and waved at the girl as she left the three Gryffindor students alone with the ex-convict. "She is the strangest Slytherin I've ever met."
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Ooo, a LONG chapter. How exciting! (yeah I'm insane, it's all good) Ugh, I've spent the last nine hours at a 'writing retreat' for uni. From 9am to 6pm on a bloody SATURDAY!!! How unfair is that. And it was fricken compulsory!! RAH! Anyways, much thanks for all your reviews!!
Anyways…I'm glad you like the sneak previews. *evil grin*
Coming up: Buffy has a chat with two of her least favourite professors.
Toodles.
(Ooo, and Kristal, you're a legend, I love ur feedback, but you've got no hope of the sequel to AMD coming out any time soon. I swear It's being written, but I'm still struggling through getting this one finished…)